What Credit Bureau Does Each Bank Check in Canada?

Whenever you apply for a credit product in Canada, the lender will check your credit history from one or both of the two credit bureaus in Canada: TransUnion or Equifax. Since each credit check negatively impacts your credit history, it’s important to know which lender pulls what, helping you “stack” your credit churning appropriately and limiting the damage to any particular credit bureau.

An ‘X’ indicates the bureau used by the creditor. TransUnion is indicated in green, while Equifax is indicated in red. Most creditors only pull one bureau, with the exception of Capital One, who pulls both. A blue tab with a number indicates that the creditor may also pull from that bureau. An explanatory note for any blue and numbered entry is provided after the table.

If you have a different experience than listed, please comment, and I’ll update the table accordingly.

CREDITOR

TRANSUNION

EQUIFAX

American Express

X

1

Bank of Montreal

X

CAA Mastercard

X

Canadian Tire (CTFS)

X

Capital One

X

X

CIBC

X

Citi Canada

X

Desjardins

X

Chase

X

HSBC

X

MBNA

X

2

National Bank

X

PC Financial

X

Rogers Bank (Rogers/Fido Mastercard)

X

Royal Bank of Canada

X

Scotiabank

X

Tangerine

X

TD Canada Trust

X

TD Bank USA (for Canadian Applicants)

X

Vancity

X

Wal-Mart Mastercard

X

1: American Express occasionally pulls Equifax instead of TransUnion. It appears to apply to people with frequent AMEX history.

2: MBNA may pull Equifax after pulling Transunion if they require more information.

CIBC just checked my EQ twice for an overdraft that I applied for in branch.
PC Financial checked my EQ first, then went to TU and did two hits on the same day before approving the account- a bit annoying….

2 hits from the same bank on the same day counts as 1hit really. Just like car dealerships checking many banks within a 2 week period counts as one since you’re just trying to find the best interest rates.

2.BMO & Scotiabank use EQ for initial app CC opening but also use TS for $$ credit increases. Most CC limit increases they use TS.

3. National bank use Both same single app.

4.Most telephone or Cable accounts like Rogers Bell use Both.

5.Amex sometimes dont check hard credit check at all but pull soft credit check on both TS & EQ. They did not pull hard credit on me or family members but got rejected on online 2 accounts and they did review on both TS & EQ and it shows they did 4 soft crdit checks on both TS & EQ for Cash back card & Airmiles Gold.

Meridian Credit union offers credit cards through Collabria Financial Services. In my case, credit inquiries are through Equifax but twice (One by Meridian and another by Collabria) for Meridian Visa card